


Shift

by Peskychloe



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bodyswap, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-01-25 01:09:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12519524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peskychloe/pseuds/Peskychloe
Summary: The one thing Ennoshita wants most in the world is to be Captain of his team, play in the nationals, and have his boyfriend alongside him. Trouble is, not one of those things is anywhere near happening.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set just after training camp, and before the Inter Highs

At first, Chikara thought it had started raining. The soft taps of something on his window barely penetrated his headphones. He lifted one side away from his ear, listening out, and deciding it was definitely heavy rain, let them fall over his ear again.

“Chikara!” The shout from the street below was loud enough to pierce through them, however, no matter how much they were meant to cancel noise from the outside world. No material had yet been discovered which silenced the sound of Tanaka shouting at the top of his voice.

He removed his headphones with a sigh and opened the window. Sure enough, on the street below, stood Tanaka, clutching a rucksack.

“Ryuu, ring the doorbell like everyone else!”

“I didn't want to wake your Dad!”

“You're going to wake the whole neighbourhood like this! Hang on, I'm coming down.”

It took a while to make his way down the three flights of stairs leading to the main door of their building. He prayed to any gods listening that Tanaka would stay quiet until he reached him; it was closing in on midnight and the neighbours were still annoyed from the last time he'd shown up uninvited. Unfortunately, living in such a small building meant you were not blessed with the anonymity of the larger tower blocks. Although it was a slightly nicer apartment, everyone knew your business, even if you didn't want them to.

The gods had clearly been busy elsewhere when he pleaded with them, as the concierge (and resident of the bottom floor flat) was already unlocking the door. He tried the gods a second time, begging them to make this time the one when his best friend...

“Sorry! They're at it again. Had to get away,” Tanaka said, before adding towards the concierge, “'Scuse the interruption.”

As always, instead of throwing himself into Chikara's arms and professing his undying love, the Tanakas were arguing and had driven their son out of the house.

Hoping for third time lucky, Chikara wished the gods would smite the frowning concierge with a lightning bolt.

–

After pulling out and making up the spare futon, Tanaka completed his 'making himself completely at home' ritual by throwing himself on top of it with a loud sigh.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Chikara asked, perching himself at his desk where he'd been researching.

“Nah,” Tanaka said, sitting up with a start. “Talk about summat else. Whatcha doin'?”

Chikara passed him one of the books he was working his way through. Tanaka looked puzzled, flicking through the introduction with nostrils flared.

“I'm doing some research. For a script.”

Tanaka looked back up at him. “Oh! Cool! So it's gonna be wizards and shit?”

Chikara took back the book about 'Practical Witchcraft' and peered at the back. “What about this screamed 'wizards and shit'?”

Tanaka looked back wide-eyed. “'Cause we're boys? So we're not witches?” His face switched suddenly to a frown. “Hey! You said I could be in this film if you finally made one. Better not be makin' me a witch...”

“Of course you're going to be in it,” Chikara said soothingly. It was, after all, the whole reason he wanted to make a film in the first place; so he could have a permanent record of either the start of his life's greatest love affair, or more likely of his ridiculous, unrequited, high school crush. “It's going to be magical realism though, not 'wizards and shit'. I'm not rewriting Harry Potter. Who would play him? Kei?” He snorted with laughter at the image of Tsukishima attempting to act.

“Yeah! That would be great! Yachi could be Hermione. And...” Tanaka paused, rubbing the back of his head in thought before exploding into life. “Hinata has to be a Weasley. Red hair, innit? Oh! Oh! Aone would be a perfect Hagrid! Tall and broad.”

Chikara was always surprised by the enthusiasm with which Tanaka approached everything, but this time he was more surprised by his level of Harry Potter knowledge.

“I'm not writing a Harry Potter film...” he began, but seeing the light flashing in Tanaka's grey eyes, he knew he probably would. _Anything to make him happy_ , came the unwanted thought through his mind.

Tanaka was already flicking through the witchcraft book again, pointing out spells he'd like to have a try at casting; Chikara started scribbling some notes onto his pad, in-between imploring Tanaka to keep the noise down.

“Who would you like to be, Ryuu?”

There was no pause as he responded, “The fella from Durmstrang. Viktor Krum.” His eyes glazed over as he looked up at the ceiling, no doubt living out some fantasy. “He was the best at Quidditch, even that young. And he got the girl. He had everything, right?”

“He certainly did,” Chikara said, still staring at Tanaka's lips as they curved upwards into a wistful smile. He shook himself and carried on. “So if I write a rival school, you want to go there? You won't get as much screen time.”

“As long as I'm the Quidditch hero, that's fine.”

The notepad filled with more scribbling, a story already forming as Chikara wrote. _If I made him an exchange student, he'd be on screen for longer._

“If you could cast any spell,” Tanaka started, whispering gruffly as if it was a great secret, “What would it be?”

The pen stopped moving as Chikara considered this again. He'd been thinking about it ever since he bought the book. There were love spells, those had been his first port of call. He'd dismissed those as ludicrous when he realised he needed hair or teeth or nails from his target; Tanaka would never let him have body parts without comment, even if they were excess to requirements.

There was a section which was rather cruder, about how to change or grow body parts. They never mentioned any in particular, although Chikara had ideas about which he would choose. Once he remembered they'd all seen him naked in the showers already, he knew he couldn't explain away the overnight appearance of larger biceps, an extra three inches of height, or three inches of...that. He'd moved past that chapter with annoyance.

“Hey! You listenin'?” Tanaka was suddenly looming over him, waving a hand in front of his eyes.

“Huh?”

“You went off into Enno-land.”

He closed his eyes in a slow blink. “I was thinking about my answer carefully.”

“I'd be stronger,” Tanaka decided, flexing his biceps. “Maybe taller.”

“You're already taller than me...”

“Less than an inch!” He pulled Chikara to his feet and span him around so they were pressed back to back. Tanaka brushed his hand across the top of Chikara's head, pressing his fingers into the back of his own head, before moving away. “See?”

Chikara hoped he wasn't looking as flustered as he felt. It was difficult being friends with someone who made physical contact with no thought. He was always being pulled into positions where their bodies were touching, with little notice, and every time his heart sped up so much he had to presume Tanaka could feel it.

Chikara cleared his throat. “You're right. There's hardly any difference these days.”

“Told ya.” Tanaka pulled off his shirt, part of his bedtime routine. 

He'd told Chikara the first time he stayed over he slept naked, even at the age of eleven. He was a wriggly sleeper, and got hot if he wore too much in bed. They'd come to an agreement there and then that Tanaka would wear something on his bottom half when they had sleepovers. Chikara was eternally grateful to his pre-pubescent self for insisting on this rule, it was certainly coming in handy as they got older. With more defined abs.

Chikara finally decided it was time to turn off the lights and get to bed so he didn't have to avert his eyes from his flesh any more. “We should get to sleep. We have school tomorrow and to be honest I'm surprised Dad hasn't been in to tell us to be quiet. It's one in the morning.”

“Your Dad is so cool! I'm so jealous, you get away with murder. Wish my Mum...” Tanaka stopped suddenly, his eyes flicking towards his friend. “Sorry.”

Chikara wasn't sure what he was apologising for; not wanting to talk about his own domestic situation, or mentioning his Mum when Chikara no longer had one. Either way, he had no need to be sorry. “It's fine.”

The two of them took it in turns to prepare for bed, sharing the sink to clean their teeth. Tanaka had finally remembered to bring his own toothbrush, for once, the same week as Chikara had bought a spare for him from the konbini. The loose pyjama bottoms Tanaka had also brought were getting short in the legs; as Chikara passed Tanaka a cup of water to rinse his mouth, he pointed out a rip in the waistband which was starting to reveal the drawstring.

Everything was so well-rehearsed, domestic even, that Chikara had to stop himself from daydreaming that it was ten years in the future and they were living together. He deliberately faced the wall when he got in bed, leaving Tanaka to turn the lights off.

After a few minutes of peace, he heard a small voice say, “Chika?”

Sighing, he turned towards the futon. “Yes, Ryuu.”

“I can't sleep. Still thinking about this spell thing.” Even in the dark, Chikara could see him lift his head from the pillow and rest it on his hand. “Do you think it would be better to wish your body was different, or just that your mind was in a completely different body?”

“What on earth...? Is that the two choices?”

“Probably swap with someone, I reckon.”

“I suppose that would solve the problem of explaining how you suddenly looked different.” Chikara rolled and stared at the ceiling. “Who would you choose?”

“Someone older, taller, and more muscley.” The sound of him lying back down was louder than anyone could expect from such a simple movement. “What about you?”

He knew exactly who he'd swap with. “Daichi.”

“Really?” Tanaka was sitting back up, his wide eyes visible in the dim room.

“I really wish I was him. Playing every game, and in a team with, urm, my best mate and everything.” He'd had to stop himself from saying 'boyfriend', unsure as he was if Tanaka had picked up on the same vibes between the current Captain and Ace.

“You're on a team with your best mate! Me!”

Chikara smiled and turned his head on the pillow, trying to get a better view of Tanaka's face. “Yeah, I know.”

“Plus, you're gonna be captain next year. You don't even need to body swap for that! You just need patience, pal.”

“So, you'll be my Ace?”

“Better had be! Or you'll be in big trouble.” Tanaka reached across to find Chikara's wrist, squeezing it. “You'll be a bloody brilliant Captain.”

Chikara wasn't sure if his face was visible in the dark, but he couldn't risk Tanaka seeing the tears starting to sting his eyes. He pulled away his hand and turned back to the wall. “Thanks, Ryuu,” he said to its uncaring flatness. He preferred it to the blinding optimism shining from Tanaka.

How could he explain why he wanted to swap with Daichi without revealing his true feelings? If he was Daichi, everything he wanted and tried for so hard could be his  _now._ He'd tried being patient already, it wasn't working. He watched from the sidelines as other people developed their skills and he hadn't even played since Asahi came back, even though three of the new first years got to play. With two third year Wing Spikers on their team, it would be selfish to want their place anyway.

But, if he was Daichi, he'd be a well-respected Captain already,  _and_ be in a relationship with a team-mate. Okay, maybe it was a different team-mate, but things change. Maybe he would learn to love Asahi, or maybe Tanaka could fall in love with Daichi.

_Shut up, Chikara,_ he thought, burying his head face first into his pillow. This was all irrelevant, as well as a waste of time. There was no such thing as magic spells, he was merely being childish to believe they could be real.

He wasn't even sure he believed in the gods any more, having ignored him three times already.

Still, the last thing he did before sleep overtook him was pray to the gods just one more time, for what he wanted most of all for his future; to be the Captain of a team playing at Nationals, with his boyfriend on the team alongside him.

 


	2. Chapter 2

The moment Koutarou's alarm went off, and he stretched and kicked over a lamp he didn't know he owned, was the moment he thought something might be off. The fact his alarm was a completely different tune to the one he was expecting didn't give him any pause for thought, he was often changing his alarm tone and forgetting until the morning.  _Keeps me on my toes,_ he would tell Akaashi, when the reality was he forgot his whims as quickly as they came to him.

Forgetting he owned bedroom furniture was a new one though. Unless his mother had snuck it in without telling him. It was probably that.

He turned onto his side with a huff, pulling his covers around him. The futon next to his bed was empty already. He lifted his head from the pillow to mumble, “Keiji?” before dropping it back and falling fast asleep again.

He didn't wake up again until his phone rang. The tune was different again, so he assumed it was an alarm for something he couldn't remember setting. He vowed to sort out his garbage dump of a phone at the next opportunity.

“Shit!” he said, jumping out of bed upon seeing the clock showing it was already eight. “I'm gonna be so late!” The speed with which he moved must have given him a head rush, he felt so dizzy and weak. He fell back to the bed and rubbed his eyes.

Deciding to check the alarm sound, to make sure it wasn't vital, was the second clue that something was off. His phone lock screen was not only different, but his phone was a completely different make. No wonder the tones had been weird.

“Huh?” he said, turning it over and over in his hands, somehow expecting it to change with each flip. “What the...Keiji? What's going on? Did you get a new phone?”

He cocked a head to listen for an answer, before slapping his head with the realisation Akaashi would have already left for school. He'd give him a piece of his mind for not waking up his senpai, that was for sure. How could he let him sleep in and miss practice?

The third clue came when he spotted a note on the futon's pillow. It wasn't so much the note, it was his hand reaching to grab it that surprised him.

“What happened to my bloody fingers?” he said in horror, bringing the long, spindly digits towards his face to get a better look at them. There were bandages on a couple of them too, not something he was used to seeing. 

_What happened last night?_ he thought.  _Were we in an accident? Have I lost my memory?_ Panic suddenly took over his whole body.  _Where's Keiji?_

He unlocked the unusual phone, only to be faced with a passcode screen; by this time he was convinced it definitely wasn't his phone, he never used passcodes, 'cause he never remembered them and it annoyed Akaashi. Could this  _be_ Akaashi's phone?

He peered at the picture on the lock screen, only to see three members of Karasuno volleyball club staring back at him. Now he was really confused. His team had only met Karasuno for the first time a month before and he'd only really got close to the two middle blockers who joined in their practice game. These three were...the small one with the blonde tuft was the Libero, that was easy. That one with the shaved head was a Wing Spiker, he was sure, he remembered him growling at Tora from Nekoma. In between them stood a nondescript dark haired boy he was pretty sure he'd never seen in his life. It was only the uniform he was wearing that meant he realised he was also part of Karasuno.

Why had Akaashi got these three on his phone screen? What did this all  _mean_ ? If it wasn't Akaashi's phone whose was it?

“Keiji!” he shouted again, more desperately, before remembering he still hadn't read the note. Wondering if it held any more clues, he knelt to grab at it.

“ _Hey!_

_Left early so they didn’t get more angry._

_See you at school_

_R”_

He was still asleep. That must be it. Nothing made sense. He'd lie down and sleep it off. Or wake it up, whichever would make things normal again. As he started towards his bed (different sheets, of course they were) the phone rang again.

He scrabbled to pick it up before it was lost behind the passcode firewall again – although if he was still asleep, he probably knew the code anyway, he should have tried that – and managed to connect to whoever was trying to contact him through his dream.

“Hello?”

“Chikara! Where the hell are you?”

_Chikara? That must be the name he gave himself in his dreams. Power. Nice one, dream Koutarou._

“Who's this?”

“What the...? Who do you think it is, you loon? It's Ryuu!”

_Ryuu. R. Ah, this was the person in the note._

He cleared his throat. His dream voice was weirdly quiet. “What's up?”

“I'll tell you what's up. I'm at school, in the gym, trying to play volleyball. But our Captain is going apeshit because it looks like you've left the team again. He won't let you back this time, ya know.”

_Left the team? Again?_

The R person spoke more quietly. “Look, I know you were freaked out everyone learnt so much at training camp, and you didn't. But ya really did! It'll be all up in your noggin. That...recorder of yours in your head will have logged it all for you to bring up at the right time! Just come back, dude. Please?”

“I haven't left the team! I'm still asleep that's all. I'll go to bed and wake up and be with you very soon.”

There was a pause, during which Koutarou admired his dream bedroom a bit longer before he wouldn't be in it any more. It was tremendously tidy, his Mum would be proud of his dream self.

“Chika? Are you okay?” the person named Ryuu asked.

“Oh yeah, fine! You'll see me there soon.”

“Is it 'cause of last night? You don't want to see Daichi?”

“I like Daichi! He's a nice guy, why wouldn't I want to see him?” Of all of Karasuno, Daichi was the person he liked the most. Well, him and Asahi. And Hinata. And Suga...

“I know it must be hard, but don't leave again. We need you! You're our future Captain, mate.”

“How dare you? I'm the Captain already!” He wasn't going to take any shit from this Ryuu, no matter how imaginary he was. “I'm hanging up now and going back to bed to wake up. Please don't bother calling again. Bye!” 

He hung up, locked the phone so he couldn't be disturbed again, and crawled back under the duvet. This was a nicer one than his real one, he'd have to try and convince his Mum to sneak in a new one of these instead of a lamp next time.

–

Koutarou woke with a start when a different ringing began. More shrill, echoey. His pillowcase had come off while he was dreaming and had wrapped itself around his head; he struggled out from under it as he made his way towards the source of the sound.

It appeared to be coming from a room at the end of the corridor, door slightly ajar. Inside was a huge wooden desk with a desk tray, paper pad, pen pots and photo frames on it, and most importantly, a ringing telephone.

Koutarou picked it up. “Hello?”

A muffled nervous voice came from the earpiece. “Could I speak to Ennoshita-san please? It's Takeda-sensei.”

_Am I still asleep?_ “I think you have the wrong number, sir.”

“Chikara-chan? Is that you? Are you safe?”

“Nah. Wrong number, sorry.” 

As Koutarou was hanging up, he heard the other voice saying, “No, please don't hang up!” in such a serious tone, he had to stop and listen.

“You definitely have the wrong -” but the words stuck in his throat as he'd noticed the picture on the wall behind the desk chair. Somehow in his sleepy state he hadn't even thought about not having a room that looked like this in the small apartment he shared with his parents and sisters, let alone this photograph. 

The tinny voice continued speaking, but Koutarou had already dropped the receiver to walk towards his reflection in the glass. The slender fingers of his hands reached towards the unfamiliar face where his own should have been.

His majestic horns were replaced by dark hair sweeping across his forehead. His eyes weren't their usual owlish amber, but dull and sleepy brown. If he'd still had his own face, his thick brows would be shooting up his forehead in shock so everyone knew how he was feeling; this face barely twitched in mild surprise despite the events unfolding.

Not long ago he'd seen this face and was sure he'd never seen it before. There was a second he felt that again, looking at its reflection in the glass covering the photograph of the Tokyo skyline, a skyline he wouldn't be able to see when he left the house. Because this house wasn't his, this body wasn't his, and this boring face definitely wasn't his.

Koutarou picked up the receiver again. “Hello? Takeda-sensei? Whose house is this?”

“I'm looking for Ennoshita Chikara. He didn't turn up for school, and Tanaka-chan is worried about him after speaking to him this morning. Am I speaking to Ennoshita-san?”

“Nah,” Koutarou said, stroking his pointed chin for non-existent stubble. “This is...Chikara.” _Or his body at least. “_ I'm on my way in. Pardon the inconvenience.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

Chikara knew what had happened within thirteen minutes of opening his eyes. He knew it was unlikely, ridiculous, unfathomable, but he also realised it _had_ happened, and complaining about the unlikelihood of something which had definitely happened was pointless.

The first thing he noticed upon waking was the room was different, and within two minutes, he was wondering why Daichi had so many owls in his room. The shower was running, and there was an empty futon next to the bed he lay in. Just as he was wondering how long Asahi would be, the running water stopped, Akaashi Keiji walked through the door, towelling his dark curly hair, and the significance of the owls became obvious.

He'd obviously swapped bodies with Bokuto Koutarou, and was now in Tokyo. With Akaashi Keiji half-naked in the same room. Maybe the gods did exist after all.

“Come on, we'll be late. Shower's free.”

“Uh-huh,” Chikara said, trying not to look at Akaashi's chest.

“We have practice, remember,” he said, shrugging on his uniform shirt. “We need to leave in ten minutes. I'll be downstairs.”

Chikara wasn't sure he could claim to have 'met' Bokuto and Akaashi, but obviously he'd spoken words in their presence, and they might have responded to him. He'd played a couple of practice matches against Fukurodani during Golden Week, filled with a mix of awe at their skill, jealousy at their connection on court, and butterflies from looking at Akaashi's flawless face. The same face which was now frowning at him from above and throwing a pair of trousers at his head.

“Sorry! I'll go now.”

“Get on with it.” Akaashi's voice was cranky, but the smile was soft. The tendrils of black hair, lit from behind by morning light from the window, and curling around his perfectly angular face, didn't really help to dispel the image of some sort of ethereal being.

Something twitched inside the pyjama bottoms Chikara was wearing; he hurriedly got to his feet and stumbled towards what he hoped was a bathroom. There was no way he wanted to get caught with an erection in someone else's body, it was embarrassing enough in his own.

Thankfully, he guessed correctly and found himself in a small bathroom, filled with shampoo bottles and discarded bobby pins. The presence of bras and thongs clipped on an octopus shaped hanger over the bath didn't fluster him as much as the thought of having to see another boy's naked body.

_I can't believe the first naked man I get to touch is Bokuto._

Despite his attempts to do something not so obvious, the first thing he did was check out his new penis. “Fucking hell!” He couldn't stop the curse from escaping his lips. He should have expected it, really; Bokuto was athletic, tall, broad everywhere else, why wouldn't he have something like this stashed away in his underwear? It was maybe the same length as Chikara's own, which gave him some relief, but it was almost twice as thick.

“Please, please, go away,” he whispered to his groin. “I don't want to have to do anything to...help you disappear.” Chikara tried to wash without touching himself, giving a cursory wipe over his genital area. That would have to do.

Back in the bedroom, Akaashi already clanking around downstairs, he found a uniform bunched up on the floor. Unlike his own, this one had a tie. He groaned, he'd never tied a tie before. Picking it up, he was delighted, and not surprised, to see this tie was one of those pre-tied ones on a circle of elastic. He smiled, congratulating himself on guessing Bokuto's character so early on. This would make pretending to be him much easier.

“Bokuto-san? Are you ready?”

“Yeah, coming!”

Akaashi stood at the end of the corridor with two brown paper bags. He handed one to Chikara as he walked past him towards the front door.

“For me?”

“Of course.” Akaashi looked confused, before picking up and throwing a house key to Bokuto. “Let's go, then. Before we're even later.”

–

Tokyo was crazy at seven thirty in the morning. It was crazy any time of day whenever Chikara had visited, but this was something else.

_Bokuto wouldn't be flustered. You are Bokuto. Act like him._

He took a deep breath to puff out his chest, figuring the more confident he looked the better, and sat next to Akaashi on the packed train. A woman in her thirties scowled at an older man talking loudly on a cellphone, and Chikara craved the silence of his morning stroll to school through the quiet streets of his home town.

“You okay, Bokuto-san?”

“Yeah! Just a bit tired. From all the practice last night.”

Akaashi squinted at him sideways. “Uh-huh. 'Practice'.”

“Thanks for the breakfast,” Chikara said, eating the banana he found inside his bag.

“No problem.” Akaashi opened a book and began to read.

Chikara took the opportunity to get himself prepared for the performance. Things he knew for sure about Bokuto, he could count on the fingers of one hand. These hands, with larger, thicker fingers, and bitten fingernails. Bokuto bit his fingernails then – that would need working into the portrayal.

The phone in his pocket would give more clues. Thankfully, it was unlocked, and for the first time he thought about his own body, with Bokuto inside it, with no knowledge of the passcode to his own phone.

The lock screen showed a picture of Bokuto and Akaashi, in their volleyball uniforms, grinning at the lens. Well, Bokuto was. _I'm going to have to smile more, that's for sure._ Next stop was the photo album; it's usually a good bet that you can tell what people really care about by what they have photos of. There was only one album aside from the default, called simply '123' and locked with a password. Interesting. He tried the password '123' but apparently he wasn't that lucky, and also Bokuto wasn't that stupid. The main album was filled with pictures of, well, everything. There were dogs, other students, food, shoes, and a lot of the sky.

“You're quiet,” he heard from his side, and looked up to see Akaashi studying him.

“You're reading.”

“Doesn't usually stop you,” he sighed, looking back at his book, a faint smile on his lips.

 _I'm going to have to be more noisy._ Chikara looked through the paper bag to see what other food was in it, still feeling hungry. Having a larger body clearly meant being more hungry, or maybe the broader body was caused by being a more hungry person. It was a chicken and egg situation, obviously. _Gods, I could really go for some omirice._

“What are we going to work on today?” Akaashi asked him, the book now closed in his lap.

“Um, receives,” he answered quickly, thinking of what Daichi said they had planned for their own practice session.

“Uh-huh. Why's that?”

“Because...they need to be better at them.”

“Who does?”

“The...Libero?”

“Hmm.” The book was opened again, drawing a line under the conversation. Chikara could tell it hadn't gone well. Not knowing the player's names was going to be a problem.

Instead of talking, he began scrolling through old text messages trying to figure out what Bokuto was like. From the most recent, he could work out what the names of the players on the team were, but not their positions. He could also see Bokuto was tremendously caring towards his team mates, many messages checking how they were feeling after injuries, or a bad test result, or simply feeling a bit low. Chikara considered himself a good friend, but even he didn't think he'd be able to keep track of so many different things going on in everyone's lives.

He clicked through one name, Konoha, to see the contact information, wondering if it might give clues. He inhaled in shock, causing Akaashi to turn and look at him; he hadn't been able to help it after seeing reams of notes about the player, including his position as 'Wing Spiker', birthday, allergies, an anniversary of something named 'family stuff', and even favourite food (Tatsua chicken).

He spent the rest of the journey to their school in silence, reading the contact information of the names with the most texts, and desperately trying to jam the information into his head. Could he use the 'emo mode' he'd heard about as an excuse? He'd heard mention of it at camp, saw it from the bench, but without knowing what caused it, it would probably be a dodgy tactic. Better to stick with tired.

Akaashi's book closed once more – a sure sign they'd arrived – so he stood first, confidently, the names of the team floating in his head over and over. He could do this, he'd had enough practice at being other people over the years in drama club.

He allowed Akaashi to go first through the door, earning a small, tight smile of appreciation. _I can do this._

–

Practice had been _incredible_. Playing volleyball, doing the thing he loved the most. And in this body, with defined muscles, seemingly endless stamina, strength beyond what he could imagine. This body was built for volleyball.

Chikara was strong; he worked out when he could, with his dumbell set at home in his room, only when no one would see him. But this body...he had to work out more, this was so easy to use. It responded to his whims with very little thought, going where he imagined it going, doing exactly what he wanted it to do.

He scored ten times. _Ten._

He'd never scored in a practice session, always being the one saving the ball from dropping rather than propelling it over the net. But being the Ace meant he was set towards by Akaashi more often than not, those green eyes flicking and finding him in seconds. The ball was coming to him, for him to score with. He adored it.

It was precisely what he didn't want to find out from swapping bodies with someone; that he enjoyed volleyball more than he thought he did, and he desperately wanted to be the Ace.

Didn't body swap experiences usually show you that the grass isn't greener? This was fucking amazing so far.

He tried not to see the fact he was seeing Akaashi half naked yet again as another positive point towards the experience, but quite honestly, the high from the game was making it hard for him to care about anything other than his fantastic mood.

Akaashi turned, caught him staring, and, after making sure they were alone, quietly said, “You're not Bokuto-san.”

“'Course I am, Agaaaashi! Who else would I...”

“I had my suspicions on the train, but seeing you on court? I'm certain. I must say, you're doing a tremendously good job in your pretence. Only someone who knows Bokuto-san well would guess. It's a very serviceable impression of the way most people see him. But you gave yourself away just then.”

“But I...”

“When we're alone, he never calls me Akaashi. You weren't to know that. We keep our lives...private.”

Chikara had no choice but to look at his feet and stammer his way through another excuse, knowing the whole time the game was up. Akaashi would out him to the rest of the team, for sure.

“So. Who are you?”

“I'm Bokuto...”

“Have we met before?” Akaashi asked, ignoring his splutters.

Chikara sighed and gave in. “Urm. Yeah. During Golden Week last month.”

“You're from another school, then?”

Chikara nodded. Akaashi was still looking at him, arms crossed, curious rather than angry.

“You're that theatre kid from Karasuno, right? The quiet dark-haired boy. That's why you're so good at pretending to be him.”

Chikara was amazed that Akaashi even remembered he existed, let alone that he had dark hair and studied theatre. He'd barely mentioned it the one time he had a conversation with him. He put out a hand, saying in his own voice, “Ennoshita. Chikara.”

“Wow. I didn't realise you were so much quieter. And you've been putting on an accent. You're pretty talented.”

Chikara blushed, his hand hovering in mid air. “Thanks.”

Akaashi shook the outstretched hand and smiled. "Well, at least he swapped with someone friendly. Any idea how this happened?"

He wasn't sure at first whether to tell Akaashi the truth, but he seemed so astute there was no point in lying to him. "I _think_ it was because I wished for it. But I have no idea how it actually came to happen, if you see what I mean."

Akaashi nodded, completely unfazed. "Okay. So until we know what's going to get you to swap back, I'll help you pretend to be him. In case that's important to the...swap. I don't know, I mean. Do you need to learn something, you think? Or solve a problem?"

"Urm, maybe?" Chikara continued to look at his feet. "Again, I can't be sure, but it might have something to do with me being unhappy about...things at the minute."

"First things first," Akaashi said, squinting at Chikara, "We need to talk to Kou. If it _is_ because of your wish, he won't have any idea what's going on.” He tapped his chin. “We should call someone else on your team, too. You know any numbers?"

Chikara shook his head. Who knew phone numbers off by heart any more?

Akasshi thought for a second, before looking up, face falling as he said, "Oh bloody hell, I'm going to have to ring Kuroo, aren't I?"


	4. Chapter 4

If you've never tried it, finding your way to somewhere you've never been to, from somewhere you have no idea where it is in relation to the place you're going, is extremely difficult. In addition to this, Koutarou found that doing it in someone else's body was pretty much impossible.

He felt like he was wearing someone else's skin. Either that, or maybe trying to put on a puppet show in German, with glove puppets on his feet. Everything was difficult and weird and didn't make any sense.

“Excuse me, sir! Which bus goes to Karasuno high school?” Koutarou still hadn't got used to the volume of the voice he'd been stuck with, the second part of the sentence coming out ten times louder than the first.

The man with glasses jumped a little, before answering, “I don't know about a bus, but isn't that a school at the end of this road?”

Koutarou peered into the distance and spotted a large white building with windows, which did indeed look as if it could be a school. Was it _his_ school, though? Or rather Chikara's school. This was confusing.

“And is that Karasuno?” he turned back and asked the man, face far too close to his.

“I don't know!” he answered, and scurried away.

People in Sendai sure were a lot more jumpy than in Tokyo.

Koutarou decided he was late enough already, and the building was close enough that it made sense to see with his own eyes – no, not his own. Chikara's – if it was Karasuno instead of standing around trying to work out if it was.

His phone buzzed, but as he still hadn't worked out how to unlock it, he ignored it. It buzzed a second and third time before he eventually gave in,

“4596 is the passcode,” read all three texts from an unknown number.

“Huh?” He used the code, and as if by magic he suddenly had access to the phone. “Oh blessed gods!” He scrolled to the phone and started to dial Keiji's number. Then he realised he didn't know Keiji's number off by heart and Chikara didn't have it stored. Obviously. He contemplated trying to guess it.

The phone buzzed again with another text from the same unknown number.

“Kou? It's Keiji. Ring me?”

“Keiji!” He called the number and cradled the phone against his face listening for the ringing.

After one tone, it was answered. “Kou?”

“Oh gods! Keiji! Thank gods it's you! Oh man, I'm in someone else's _body_! No, listen, I really am! I dunno who he is, but I'm in Sendai and it's tiny and I'm lost? Where's my body? Is someone else in it? Not Tetsu! Oh no, I'd rather it was empty!”

There was a pause. “Finished?”

“Urm. Yeah.”

“Okay, so first of all, I know you're in Chikara's body. I believe you, okay? It's really happened, so don't freak out.”

“Oh, excellent!” That was one good thing, at least, that he wasn't hallucinating and his best friend believed him.

“Secondly, I'm right here with your body, which has Chikara in it. It's only you two that have swapped as far as I can tell.”

“So Tetsu is still in his own body?” Koutarou wasn't sure why this was an important fact to confirm, but it was, right at that moment.

Akaashi sighed. “I just this moment spoke to Kuroo and yes, he's in his own body. I also told him to please ask Kei to meet you at practice.”

“Key? What key?”

“No, _Kei_. Remember? That tall blonde blocker. With glasses.”

“Oh, Tsukki! Yeah I remember him. Okay. And why's he meeting me?”

“Well, I thought someone there should know what was going on, since I know over this end. I thought as you've played with Kei and know him – sort of – it would be a good idea to bring him in on it.”

“Yeah, I don't really... _know_ him.” Koutarou was feeling all at sea without his notes; it wasn't that he had a bad memory, there was just a lot going on in his brain Making notes in his phone for less pressing (but still important) matters was Keiji's idea, but it worked so well, he often wondered how he managed until Keiji joined the team.

“Now, Chikara here disagrees,” Akaashi continued. “He says him and Kei aren't that close and he's a sarcastic bugger.” Akaashi sighed again, and Koutarou felt a pang at not being able to touch him to reassure him everything would be okay. “But he also said Ryuu would probably think he was joking because of what they talked about last night.”

“I don't know what that...should I know what that was?”

“Hmm. Well, they discussed body swapping. We think that might be why he swapped with you.”

“But why me?” he whined. “I don't even know this Chikara. Why did he want to be me?”

“Actually I don't...hang on.” He moved away from the mouthpiece, although Koutarou could still hear him. “Chikara? Why did you want to swap with Bokuto-san?”

There was a low mumbling in his voice in the background. Koutarou pressed the phone closer into his ear to try and hear how he sounded to other people.

“Ah, okay.” Akaashi's voice became louder again. “He says he wanted to swap with Daichi and doesn't know why he's in you instead.”

“Keiji, do I really sound like that?”

“No. Can you focus, please?”

“Okay, okay.” He ran his hand through his hair, remembering again how boring his hair was. “Quickly though! Can you ask Chikara if I can do something with this hair?”

Keiji talked away from the phone once more, while Koutarou bent and peered into a window, pulling the strands of hair around to try and get them to do something.

“He says, 'If you can do anything more interesting with it, please be my guest, and leave me notes on how you managed.' Right, we have to get to class. Go meet Kei and he'll help you until this whole thing...you know...undoes itself.”

“Thanks, Keiji.” He was so lucky to have a best friend to help him navigate this unusual situation. He couldn't conceive that he even believed him, let alone was doing so much for him. He felt another, stronger, empty feeling at him not being close enough to look at. “Hey! Wait a minute!” he suddenly said, “You better not kiss him!”

Akaashi's voice lowered. “Kou, I'm not going to kiss him, please don't worry. Things will be back to normal soon.”

Koutarou harrumphed, hung up the phone, and turned back towards the school; Kei stood, staring at him, arms crossed across his chest.

“It's true then.” He sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose. “I thought Kuroo was taking the piss.”

–

Karasuno was a much smaller, quieter school than Koutarou was used to, but his companion believed him and was going to help him, that was the most important thing.

The first decision to be made was that Koutarou shouldn't tell anyone else he wasn't Chikara. Kei encouraged him to pretend he was Chikara, passing on some information about the kid of person he was. Quiet, intelligent, a little dull, likes films – these were the only clues he had to work with. He was surprised that Kei didn't know more about someone he practised with twice a day.

A bell sounded, and the corridors filled with students, noisily making their way to lockers. Koutarou immediately stopped feeling so unsettled by the silence.

“Ah. It's lunchtime. You missed practice and the first half of the day,” Kei said, looking sideways as they walked up some stairs leading to the second year classrooms. “What were you doing?”

“Trying to find the bloody school! I mean, they don't give you a handbook when you swap bodies you know. You kind of have to...muddle through.”

“I'll be sure to remember that if it ever happens to me.”

Koutarou was already beginning to agree with Chikara about Kei's sarcasm. “I hope one day it _does_ happen to you. And you swap with someone really awful.”

Kei stopped walking and looked at Koutarou through narrowed eyes. “Sorry. I keep forgetting you're not Chikara.”

“You should probably respect your senpai a bit more, ya know.” Koutarou carried on walking, and Kei jogged to catch up.

“I know. This is just very strange. Sorry, Bokuto-san.”

“I didn't mean me!” They were nearing the door to Chikara's classroom, Koutarou could see the numbers on the sign. He sighed seeing the four printed next to the two; trust Chikara to be in college prep. “I meant Ennoshita.” 

“Oh.” Kei shrugged, putting an arm out as if to guide Koutarou into the classroom. “Well, I will do when he proves himself worthy. He's not even in the starting line-up.” He snorted with a flick of his head.

“Hey!” Koutarou turned to Kei, pointing. “Thought you learnt summat at Golden Week. What's with ya attitude?”

Kei looked shocked. “Sorry?”

“Look. You got your passion back for the game a bit. But ya still gotta focus on your teamwork. 'Cause right now, it sucks, dude. This Chikara fella,” He pointed at himself, confused again, “He might not play, but he watches everything! I saw it when we were watching matches, him and Suga, they know _exactly_ what's going on even if they don't play. Can't say the same for you.” He jabbed a finger into Kei's shoulder. “Plus, he's still your senpai, whatever you feel.”

Kei didn't speak, poorly concealed upset showing in his face. Koutarou remembered Kei was still only a first year, despite his height, and started to feel guilty. He didn't need to get so angry just because he was having a bad day, Kei was trying to help.

“Hey, sorry if I'm outta line. Just...you're a great player, Tsukki.” Koutarou grasped his bicep and smiled. “Don't ruin it. Alright?”

“Thank you, Bokuto-san.” 

Koutarou peered at him, thinking he spotted a humility that wasn't present before, although he could have been wrong; before he'd decided either way, Kei had put his headphones back on and walked off, leaving Koutarou at the door.

Before he could walk in, he heard a shout of, “Chikara!” from behind him. Somehow his instincts were already trained to respond to a different name, and he turned to see who it was. A tall, lean student sauntered towards him, shrugging his bag onto his shoulder. He looked familiar, and Koutarou placed him as the shaven-haired person in his lock screen photo; this was certainly Ryuu, who left the note on the futon, and was obviously a good friend of Chikara. Finally, something was going right!

“Finally!” the other student said. “Ryuu said you slept in or something, are you okay?”

So this wasn't Ryuu then? Then who the fuck was it? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I struggled SO MUCH with this chapter, so I apologise it's so short and not much happened. I think Tsukki was what made it so hard, but I don't really understand why! Anyway, I WONDER WHO THAT IS?


End file.
